Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-05-31
DAY.
Fitting Observance by the Pa
triOtic Princess,
A Splendid Procession - Impressive
Service-ElOquentM Memoir
ial Address.

people of the city, for time, laid aside thel
more active duties to pay their respects
the memory Of the nations dead. The bank
and most of the business houses were closed
Shortly after noon the crowds began t
gather upon the sidewalks, and by 2 o'clock
when the procession was ready to move iron
the G.. A. hall, streets in the vicinity were
mass of people and vehicles.
The procession, formed according to tn
published order, moved first east on First
south on Lawrence, then upon Douglas t.
Main. thence on Main to the Occidental
where the members Of the post took stree
cars, in waiting, and were transferred to tn
cemetery.
Upon their arrival there, they found I
crowd Of people, estimated at over e,oOo, as
sembled to witness the services to be held
The memorial services were conducted in {
very impressive manner, according to the
form of the order, by Post Commando
Downing, Chaplain Harmon and Comrad'
John Wallace, over the grave Of the latt
Capt. W. S. Smith Incidental to this
service was the singing of two very beauh
full songs, ''Rest, Comrade, Rest" and ''St
Sleep the Brave" by the quartette composed
of Messrs Hull, Howe, Collins and Bracken
and, in conclusion, a salute of three well
fired volleys by Company A, of the z. n. G.
The Post then formed into two squads and
each preceded by groups of little girls with
flowers marched over the burial ground
strewing with their floral offerings the
graves over which waved the
stars and stripes the flag that
those sleeping beneath had offered their
life. After this was finished all gathered
around stand erected upon the side Of the
hill to listen to the memorial address of Cal
Hallowell, orator of the day. The stirring
address was listened to with the greatest in
terest by the large audience:
COMRADES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
Standing upon this sacred soil among the
graves OF the loved departed, casting our
ewes over the grand view at Our feet, that
beautiful valley in the highest state of cult
walton, that wonderful city, Its magic
growth to mammoth proportions, one can
Scarcely realize the fact that when the dead
we decorate to-day earned the prond title of
American soldier, this was a wild waste.
When we contemplate the wonderful
change we are enabled to a great extent to
measure the value of the great services of our
heroes dead and living.
To-day nation of liberty-loving peoples
assemblies in the burial grounds to cover
with wreaths the graves Of our nations pro-
tectors: and it is with feelings OF COM
mingled pride and sorrow that we gather
once more to perform these ceremonies, to
show that as people we still earnestly ap-
preciate the services of our dead soldiers and
that the cause in which they served and
many Welded up their lives is still sacred to
us.
In this cemetery none are buried who
died in battle, all our comrades reposing here
were spared in the bloody contest and re-
turned at the dawn of psace, with victory
on their banners, took up the responsibilities
of civil life and commenced and prosecuted
with characteristic energy the upbulldlng OF
the material wealth of the country. We
know not what may have been each individ
uars trials and disappointments, but, my
comrades, we know full well he met them
with the nerve Of soldier and was through
all the patriotic, liberty loving citizen, and
after having enjoyed the fruits of victory,
met his departed comrades on the other
shore Those who fell in battle rest in the
older cemeteries of the country, on the silent
battlefield, beside the deserted picket posts or
in the National burial grounds, and when we
talk of our treasured dead We mean all of
them, for every mount tells the story Of
heroes death.
Children in all ages are taught to crown
the heroes of war with laureis. Govern
ments expend royalty their treasures to mark
the resting places of their dead heroes. Hero
worship seems Unborn in all nations and
Americans are no exception to the rule:
x X =
Although the graves of our soldiers are the
property of the whole country, and
our comrades who are here buried served in
the common cause Of the government, and
the nation at large claims the kindred honors
of our dead and allows no distinction be-
tween the ashes Of her chi!a'c.., yet we ..,.,.
be allowed peculiar pride, to-day, in the
dead Of our own state of Kansas Young
and totteripg she breathed the hot breath of
strife and felt the scourge of the war years
before the open conflict began. Her prairies
were the scenes of many acts of
daring and her soil contains and is
mingled with the dust of thousand of
unknown heroes who come to us and died
that the great work might be accomplished.
They are unknown" as marked upon the
graves and will only be known to comrades
and kindred when the long roll Of heaven
shall summon them, on the last day. The
soldiers of our state fought and died In COM
mon with those of other states; some sleep
some upon the mountain side and in the val
leys of the South; by the deserted picket
post, or graSs-grown beat of the sentinel.
Some rest in other cemeteries of the nation,
and some few are gathered here, in your
quiet burial ground; but, it matters not;
wherever they sleep, they cannot be unre-
but like the ashes of those whose
states, they will be remembered as we re-
these. The thoughts of those who
loved and protected them will go out after
them, in the tolls Of the day, and in
the dreams of the night, with yearnings that
cannot be satisfied. And the great heart of
the state and the nation incurred over the
unknown graves of their children, and re-
fuses to be comforted. Unconscious of their
fate, caring for nothing save the nation, they
went down to their graves, ''uncofiined and
unknown but, should the stranger visit
their tombS in some future time, an answer,
through him, will come back to our inquiries
and our yearnings of today-from their dust,
in the sentiment of the Inscription upon the
monument of the fallen Spartans at Their
mopylae. 20, stranger, so and tell our
people that we are lying here, having obeyed
their word"
Yet, my comrades, to us who know the life
of union soldier, his hopes fears and aspi
rationS, know full well that the nations his
tory OF unSelhsh devotion and herolSm to our
cause, lies in the grave of our common
soldier whose highest ambition was victory
to cur arms; whose selfish devotion was an
anbroken altar for his country; who died
without murmur and whose last words were
My country Oh, my country Schiller
said, He has not died young who has lived
long enough to die for his country" ''Grea,-
er love hath no man than this" 1t more
than satisfied the most exalted and exacting
patriotism. 1t made Modern more resplen-
dent than Ancient history. 1t surpassed by
far thu zeal and daxnfinn of the Christian